Updates on Etsy

I've added a few more Crippy Crafts to Etsy. Check 'em out:

Etsy is Fast!

I listed a crippy craft tree on Etsy last night at around midnight. By this morning, it sold! Yippee, skippy! My niece who sells some items on Etsy gave me a good idea on how to list the artwork -- list things over a long period. Say, for instance, one a day. It gives your shop greater exposure on the site due to the number of Etsy browsing tools that put items in listed order. It gets your shop ~out there~ for a greater number of shoppers. I think it makes sense. Maybe. Could be. :-)

Moonlighting

I feel like a jack of all trades these days. First, I'm up late tonight moonlighting for a non-profit legal association. Just working on a few brochures for them in InDesign. I'm no Adobe InDesign expert, but I do find it fun to work in. It makes me think of all the fun brochure-sy things I could do if I ran my own company or organization. It's also another dandy skill to have if I lose my day job.

Secondly, I've been getting quite a few orders on Etsy. I've sold 31 jars so far. Yahooo! I haven't received my Crippy Crafts back from Minneapolis, yet, but I have high hopes that they will sell ~ok~ on there too. There's one Estsian who sells similar goods for ~$130/a pop. I don't have plans to charge nearly that much, so hopefully my wee papery art will move on there.

Finally, it's a beeeyatch to pay taxes on contracting gigs...especially if they're digitally based. I did a significant amount of graphic design work for a company in Oregon last year. I have VERY little I can "write-off" as business expenses. My software and internet connection is all paid for by my day job. My office isn't solely an office for work, so no go on that write-off. I ended up writing off some blank CDs, paper and mailing supplies. WooF'ingHoo. Here Governement, have some more money. I know we've got a war to pay for, so why can't I chip in a bit more? What? Bend over? Oh, ok...sure I can help....

Real quick like...Good and Bad Commerce

I sold five jars of jam on Etsy! Apparently Etsy does work for such things. Yahoo! That was the good news. The bad news... none of my crippy crafts sold at the art show in Minneapolis. Boo. Onto Etsy they go when they come back home. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! http://catay.etsy.com --like the jams are here. like.

Can I call it Art yet? Nah...still Crippy Craft!

    I've been working on more Crippy Craft for my work's "Art Show". They've had the art show for several years and I have yet to be in town for it, so I have no idea how much of it is crafty and how much is art. The line between the two is so often blurred as I believe it is in my stuff, but I am curious to see what others are showing/sellling. If these Crippy craft don't sell there, I will be putting them up on Etsy. I think they'll have a good shot of finding a good home there. By the way, I've been dabbling with the beauty of velum in these illustrations -- the transluscent nature lends itself well to adding additional detail and depth.

Another Crippy Craft

...this is from last night's craft fest. Whee!

By the way, I've got some jams listed at Etsy -- finally! I hope to have the rest listed shortly. Jam on, everyone!http://catay.etsy.com/

More Cut Paper Illustration!

Because I thought you'd like to know...

Don't forget, you can get the all-too-crafty "HowTo" instructions here. (linky stinky!)

More Crippy Craft and a HOW TO for the Layered Cut Paper Illustration!

I haven't shipped all of my Crippy Craft gifties yet, but the ones above have already been given away. I'm on a roll, but it's an incomplete roll, unfortunately. I've got three left to do! I did want to get these on here with the "HOW TO" before I get any more complete.

As a little background, I was looking in mid-December for some sort of homemade Crippy Craft that I could as gifts. I came across A Little Hut (click here to visit A Little Hut), and was instantly inspired. She does beautiful work! A couple of my pieces above are a directly inspired by her pieces. Little Red Riding hood, the leaves, and somewhat the deer pieces are directly inspired. (I hope she doesn't mind!) The rest have been just things that popped in my head when I thought about the recipient or just thought would make a beautiful illustration.

If you're interested in doing some "art-pieces" or "Crippy Craft" like those above, click here for full HOW-TO instructions.

Crippy Crafts and Holiday Greetings

Sorry for the extended holiday silence. I've been working on Crippy Craft gifties, with which I'm a good two weeks behind. I'll show more of these when they're all done:

 

and just enjoying the views of the holidays.:

 

I love the warm glow of the tree. It's so blasted hard to get a good photo of it, though.

I hope you're all having a lovely holiday season!

I Hab a Code

 

The purely sucky part of the holidays -- getting together with sickly relatives and friends, and taking a bit of phlegm/goo/bug/spit home with you. Yeah, no bueno. I started the cold on Saturday and it's just progressed ever so nicely to today where now I'm just a jiggling pile of goo. I know that it will be over soon, and I really was due. Ivan had two colds this year that I was able to avoid, so yeah, it was time.

The Crippy Craft item shown above was done by my step-daughter. I thought it was clever and cute, and oh so fall-ish! Here's what you'll need -- 1 fake leaf, a wooden heart, an orange pipecleaner, a walnut (unshelled), a filbert (I think that's what it is), a triangle of orange felt, a throat wattle made of red felt and two beady eyes, hot glue. Assemble these to look like a turkey. Voila! Crippy Crafts at their best!

Invites of Halloween Past

As mentioned in the post below, here are invites from the past few years. I'm especially fond of the 2003 pop-up invite. It's still, by far, my favorite. I always browse online for Halloween inspiration, so I'm hoping maybe, just maybe, this may inspire someone else. Gotta give back, ya know!

2003	2004
2005	2006

I don't have a "final" copy of last year's invite, so I recreated it with the beta copy in addition, I pasted in a graphic that initially was placed on the inside door. Pretty close to how it actually looked, methinks.

Feelin' Spooky

Here's the cover to my annual Halloween Party invite. I tried to go with a creepier, spoookier feel than previous years. For instance, last year's was constructed of construction paper, velum and a sweet lookin' Frankenstein holding a bowl of candy. Dang...I should show some previous year's invites on here. Sometimes they turn out pretty cool...sometimes lame. Each year it's a little bit different depending upon my mood and the amount of time I have available. This year, not so much time, but plenty of creep running through my veins.

The photos used to make this composite include a VERY spooky abandoned house from central Minnesota. The others were from istockphoto.com (click here to see my stock portfolio there, and to sign up!) The majority of the layered photos were the freebie photos that they give away each week to members...if you were a member, you could get freebies too! Don't ya love the sweet peer-pressure soft-sell?? I use istock for work all the time. Cheap prices and a usually a myriad of choices for each project. They aren't very profitable for people who sell photos on there -- typically you get only 20 cents for each 640x280 size photo you sell, but it does add up. I've made 220 bucks over the last two years and really haven't uploaded anything new in a year or so...so yeah, definitely meager passive income. But, ehy, the majority of our pix are just from traveling around taking snapshots... I'm sure those who use models, studio space, and whatnot are earning quite a bit more.

Working Through Grief With Fabric

Since Kipper died, I've been on a fabric binge. We won't talk about the chocolate binging...no...none of that! I've been buying fabric. Lots of fabric. I think I'm up to about 10 different yardages. Most are patterned in retro floral, as shown above. My fav of the purchases has to be the poplin shown on the left. It's fresh, fun and big ass floral! I've really been taken by the dresses and tops shown at Anthropologie lately. Just gorgeous, young, fresh stuff! Of course it doesn't come even close to my size, so I've got to do what I've got to do...make my own of course. If you said "give up binging on chocolate," you were so very wrong. ;-) I really like the Uptown Paint By Number birdy fabric (the last one pictured), but not so sure it would work as a clothing option. We'll have to see on that.

To make room for all of this new finery, I've cleaned out my closets and have placed a whole heapin' load of stuff up for sale. You can see it ~here~. All told, three garbage bags full. Whee!

Spring is Sprouting

First, thanks to all who sent expresssions of sympathy for Kipper's passing. I haven't had an opportunity to email responses yet, so don't let my tardiness lead you to believe that I didn't appreciate your thoughts tremendously! I really do. Thanks again.

On to Spring and thoughts of renewal. The photo above is that of cinnamon basil sprouts. The weekend just before Kipper died, I started some seeds in a Jiffy Greenhouse. (I don't think it's related to Jiffy popcorn, but it acts as if it is when you start with little peat pots that blossom when wet. Good times.) The first bunch of 72 sprouts were pretty successful thus far. I've had a few seed varieties that haven't sprouted, but hopefully will soon. The seeds were a couple years old and may have gotten wet, so I'm not certain they were viable. In any event, I bought another Jiffy Greenhouse 'cuz the first one was so fun. (It brought back memories of Kindergarten's foam cup, dirt and pumpkin seed excitement.) So, the other day, I planted 72 more little Jiffy pots with seeds. And, no, I didn't stop there! I bought some seed starter mix and started seeds in egg cartons. I hope they'll end up being as successful as the Jiffy Greenhouse, but I have my doubts. I'll be doing a little "how to" page on this crud shortly. I've documented it in photos, so I'm half way there!

Anyway, gotta get back to work. Happy Spring, ya'll!

Happy Holidays!

I hope you each have had a good start to the holiday season.

I believe all of my crippy craft, hand-made, super-secret-surprise gifties have been delivered, so it's time for the reveal!

As you can see at the left, my super-secret-surprise gift was the oven mitt. Hopefully, the fact that they don't match the decor is a good thing! I believe it to be that way. Who needs matching crap anyway? Do you remember the cornflower blue goose/duck phase from the 80s? Where seemingly everyone had matching towels, wallpaper, kitschy salt and pepper shakers, etc all with blue geese or ducks with yellow neck bandanas?? If you do, you know we need to break free and celebrate diversity in the kitchen. Or something like that.

The best part about oven mitts is that they're often stored out of sight, so even if you do believe in matchy-matchy, you can make an insanely bright mitt and have it BAM come out BAM once in a while BAM for a shot of BAM color.

I've set up a page with instructions on how to make these (CLICK HERE), if you're so inclined. It really doesn't take long to make and it actually became a bit fun coming up with the prints and colors. You may find it that way...or you may just hate me for getting you involved in such an inane project. In any event, Happy Holidays!

Been Crafty

I worked on my super secret holiday giftie sewing blitz this past weekend. I'm planning on doing a full documentation of the project to make a full "how to" page. I always appreciate the craft bloggers who show, step-by-step, details how to make a particular item. Aside from beating your head against a wall, having particularly gifted crafty friends/family, or reading overpriced crafty books are you supposed to know? Stay tuned!

Shhh...don't tell anyone...

But last night I figured out what to give my friends and family for Christmas this year. It's going to be fabulous! Last yearI decided that rather than solely buying crap, I would hand make gifties in addition to the homemade jams/cookies I typically send. (I'm sure it's a scary proposition for some...) I ended up making pillow cases out of fun, funky fabrics. This confused some and delighted others. "So, why did you send me pillow cases?" A definite hit/miss depending upon your point of view. This year...it's brilliant! Something that pretty much everyone needs/uses and it won't clash with current bedding ensembles. It's...it's.... well...you'll have to wait and see.

It's Art...well, ok, actually Crippy Crafts

I'm sure my friend Kimmy will be proud! I'm fully immersed in creating some "crippy crafts"! See above! I was inspired by the "primitives" that I recently encountered while doing a search on Ebay. Basically they're sewn figurals made kind of creepy 'cuz they're dirty (actually stained with tea, coffee or cinnamon). The intention is to make 'em look old/antiqued. That's what the stained ghost on the top-left is all about. The top-right one is, again, based upon the primitive idea. It's sewn, quilted, and painted with acrylics. It turned out better (and bigger! About 24 inches across) than I had anticipated. I just whipped up my patterns on craft paper, not really sure how big to make 'em....and voila! Finally, on the bottom is representative of a dozen or so "quilty note cards" that are basically snippets of fabric sewn onto blank cards. Crippy crafts at its best!

For the Love of Cute

While I've shared some of my obsessions here in my online journal, I really haven't shared them all. You know, I've probably got too many with which to bore ya'll. I've got a thing for beautiful fabric and funky, fun fabric, too. One of my current fun fabric obsessions is the stuff by Heather Ross formerly of Munki Munki. It's ~kind of~ kid stuff, but since I'm a kid at heart, I openly embrace it, too. Her current line (soon to be replaced by fun new stuff, yay!) is called "Lightning Bugs & Other Mysteries"<--click this link to view the collection. It's been out for around a year. Several of my friends received pillow cases made out of the different prints last year. Anyway, I recently found out that she's got a stationery set called "Goldfish I Have Loved (too much?)," that I just HAD TO get. It's really purty sweet and despite the fact that I lurrrve it a lot, I actually have used it already. Two sheets down and two envelopes gone. I'll stop when I get to the last sheet of each variety. Click the link in the title of this post to see the fun stationery for yourself. You'll be glad you did. Really, I'm not trying to sell ya anything, I just think it's freakin' cute!

Sew..Sew...Sewssudio.

I made some purty curtains for my step-daughter's room in the house we recently bought. It was a bear finding the fabric! I found one yard at a local fabric store...then, after she formally approved of the fabric, the chase to find more began! We called JoAnn after JoAnn. Finally they did a source search on it and found it in a city about 45 minutes south. We shot down there only to find the source search was wrong. Next shop on the source search got phoned and VOILA! 5 yards. Another 25 minutes south! We get there, and it's 5 yards cut up into several pieces. DOH! Luckily, each piece was at least a yard. Four panels later and voila, bright happy curtains.

Shabby Chic for Baby!

Another wee little quilt project. Count this as quilt deux! This is a little baby quilt for a coworker/friend of mine.

I picked up the little fabric chunks called "Charms" from The Fat Quarter Shop. The fabric is design family is called "Johnny & Buck" and is designed by Chloe's Closet for Moda. A cute little cowboy/indian/western feel set. The back is just basic baby-blue flannel.

I really appreciate the charm packs...the little squares are already cut and ready to sew. Cutting the fabric is always the worst. Too much stress about miscutting and staying on grain, etc.

..a touch of analog...

I finished (and probably most important...started!) my first quilt! It's just a "rag quilt" or "chenille quilt". Extremely simple design, really. I made it for a friend who is turning a ~certain~ age. I wanted to do something with fun, retro and *ahem* youthful fabrics. Classic but not entirely. I settled on a fat quarter pack of Denyse Schmidt's new collection purchased from Cia's Palette.

It's all backed with flannel and "filled" with some lightweight cotton batting. I've sewn for...what...about 25 years now...and never made a quilt. I feel like the shame of this virginity is now over! Now, I can move on to more challenging projects like this . Well, not exactly like that. Just using freeform design & techniques. I love the look of art quilts, but find the size/scope and, of course, potential for procrastinating mid-project too great. :-) I can imagine a piece like the one linked could take months for some and decades for others. Of course the pay off of the finished project would be awesome. Well, we'll see. For now, I'm pleased with my random, frayed edge quilt! Yay me!